Research in Engineering Colleges 49 



RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING COLLEGES 



By a. E. Kennelly 



Professor of Electrical Engineering, Harvard University, and Director of 

 Electrical Engineering Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Royal Canadian Institute: 



It is now nearly a year (51 weeks), since one of our well knowiU 

 electrical engineers, Dr. Frank B. Jew;ett of New York, read a paper 

 before you on the subject of "Industrial Research" (13). I think you 

 will agree with me that it was a very interesting presentation. Two of its 

 main proposition^ may thus be stated: (i) that industrial research, 

 properly directed and intelligently conducted, is capable of realizing 

 great industrial advantages in any country, and (2) that such results 

 can best be brought about by close co-operation between the industrial 

 interests of that country and its higher educational institutions, since 

 from the latter must come the young men qualified to build up industrial 

 research. 



Concurring cordially with these propositions, the writer ventures to 

 present to you in this paper a contribution to the same subject of re- 

 search, but from the standpoint of the engineering college. It should 

 be understood, however, that the writer has no authority to speak offici- 

 ally in this matter for the engineering colleges, or for a,ny of them. He 

 mer ely offers his personal views, in the hope of stimulating thought and 

 discussion upon these topics among scientific, professional and business 

 men. It is the writer's belief that organized research is of enormous 

 importance to all nations, and that the benefit properly realizable by any 

 one nation in this direction must inevitably share itself among all the 

 nations of the globe. What is needed, in order to secure properly con- 

 ducted research, is not so much endowment or material resources, but 

 rather a clear and widespread understanding and agreement upon what 

 research can accomplish, and ut)on the right means of securing the best 

 national results through its means. We need, at the outset, intellectual 

 rather than financial concurrence; because, if leadership in public opinion 

 can be favourably impressed with the benefits likely to accrue in the 

 pursuit of research, material and financial support may be expected to 

 follow. 



In each a^d all of the industries of commercial life, progress in pro- 

 duction has always been developed by the search for improvement. If 



